The web is made of links. Don't break them.
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The document outlines a method for transitioning a large website to a content management system (CMS) without disrupting existing links, based on 18 years of experience. It discusses challenges faced during the update, such as managing old URLs and legacy content, and suggests using a reverse proxy to handle both new and old content effectively. The author emphasizes the collaborative efforts of their team while sharing technical insights on managing the transition.
![Be thorough - list every possible legacy directory path in your conf file. (We have 137.)
Configuration File Rewrite Rules
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/annualreports(.*) [OR,NC]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/anthro/caribarch(.*) [OR,NC]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/caribarch (.*) [OR,NC]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/bats(.*) [OR,NC]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/birds(.*) [NC]
More info: http://httpd.apache.org/docs/current/configuring.html](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/highedwebfl-fazenbaker-130425125625-phpapp01/85/The-web-is-made-of-links-Don-t-break-them-22-320.jpg)
The web is made of links. Don't break them.
- 1. The web is made of links. Don’t break them. A method to gradually transition a large site to a CMS on your own timetable and keep it transparent to your visitors while doing it.
- 2. We’ve had a website for a long time – since April 1995.
- 3. Our first sitemap. It’s a web of links! Get it?!? Guess what – it still is.
- 4. Upper level pages recently redesigned and using a CMS. Only 1% of total pages though.
- 5. Some of our 90’s-era sites still get a lot of traffic.
- 6. All of whom had varying web skills (if any) and were allowed to do anything they wanted. 115 known contributors
- 7. Defined as pages that have a different design then the top-level visit-oriented pages. 115 known contributors 88 current sub-sites
- 8. We’ve ended up with a LOT of content in 18 years. 115 known contributors 88 current sub-sites 27,482 total web pages
- 9. Plus an unknowable amount of browser bookmarks & print references. 115 known contributors 88 current sub-sites 27,482 total web pages 501,170 incoming links from other sites
- 10. Screenshots of our collection homepages in 2010. Definite branding and usability issues.
- 11. The master plan. (BTW, the web office has a staff of 2.75 FTE)
- 12. Um, yeah. Reality check #1 We will never have enough time or staff to update it all at once.
- 13. Time to panic. Reality check #1 Any CMS we choose will have a different way of writing links and will break our old URLs. Reality check #2 We will never have enough time or staff to update it all at once.
- 14. Don’t waste your time fighting this. Let your new CMS do its thing. Bad idea #1: We have to get our new CMS to follow our old URL scheme! New: www.flmnh.ufl.edu/visit/shopping/butterfly-plant-sales/ Old: www.flmnh.ufl.edu/butterflies/plants.htm
- 15. This is not a solution. This still breaks stuff. Bad idea #2: Let’s squirrel away all of our old content to an “archive” area of the site! http://archive.yoursite.org/old-stuff.htm
- 16. You’ll need to admin access to your servers to try this yourself. This is how we handled it.
- 17. Just one CMS? Nah, let’s make it interesting and run two!
- 18. A reverse proxy allows multiple servers to deliver pages using the same URL space.
- 19. We chose to use Apache, but any reverse proxy/gateway will do.
- 20. Setting up a proxy on Apache is pretty simple, but read the documentation for more details. Apache mod_proxy Module RewriteRule (.*) http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu ProxyPassReverse / http://iiswww.flmnh.ufl.edu More info: http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/mod/mod_proxy.html
- 21. Tell the proxy what is on your legacy server and serve it immediately if there is a match.
- 22. Be thorough - list every possible legacy directory path in your conf file. (We have 137.) Configuration File Rewrite Rules RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/annualreports(.*) [OR,NC] RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/anthro/caribarch(.*) [OR,NC] RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/caribarch (.*) [OR,NC] RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/bats(.*) [OR,NC] RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/birds(.*) [NC] More info: http://httpd.apache.org/docs/current/configuring.html
- 23. Our legacy server happens to run IIS. YLMV.
- 24. If the page requested is not on the legacy server, send it on to your main CMS.
- 25. The CMS will serve the page if it is housed on that system.
- 26. If the page is not on your main CMS either, send it on for further processing.
- 27. Redirect app built in-house with PHP/MySQL backend using CakePHP framework for GUI.
- 28. The app can send it to other systems (if you go that route) or redirect offsite.
- 29. Be sure to terminate with a 404 if it truly is a bogus link.
- 30. Plug in your legacy/CMS situation and hopefully this can help you.
- 31. My awesome coworkers. Couldn’t have pulled this off without ‘em. Credits Taylor Wilson Web Developer Warren Brown Enterprise Systems Coordinator Andy Lievertz Systems Administrator
- 32. Contact me if you have any questions or want more techy details. Sarah Fazenbaker sfaze@flmnh.ufl.edu @sfaze Thanks!